'Tis the Season For Your Job Search

Article courtesy of Hotjobs...some great points and motivation on not letting your job search sit idle during the holidays. Many recruiters and even sales people make this mistake at this time of year as well by convinving themselves that job needs, openings, budgets aren't always actively in place for the next year yet. On the contrary, it is often the best time to network or as a recruiter fill those last end of the year jobs that companies often scurry to use the last of their hiring budgets prior to the new year starting. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Many job seekers are tempted to slow down the search (or pause it altogether) during the winter holiday season. But career experts say that, if you're looking for a new job, taking a break during the holidays is a mistake--because hiring doesn't stop.

At the end of the year, some companies rush to fill job openings that might otherwise be removed from next year's budget. And other companies will be looking ahead--as career expert Kimberly Bishop, the author of "Get Down to Business and You'll Get the Job," explains: "Jobs that might have been on hold until budgets are in place will become available in January," she says.

Roy Cohen, an executive coach and the author of "The Wall Street Professional's Survival Guide," agrees, saying, "There's a belief that recruiting shuts down during the holidays. That's a myth--so when other people take off from their job searching during the holidays, you're at an advantage should an opportunity surface. It's all about numbers and odds."

In fact, the holidays provide some distinct advantages and special opportunities for proactive job seekers. Here's how to make the most of your holiday-season job search:

Be flexible. Judi Perkins, of FindthePerfectJob.com, says, "When I was a recruiter, the holidays were one of my busiest times, and I was often on the phone either side of Christmas day." Conversely, this means that you should be prepared to interview at unusual times, to allow for a recruiter's or hiring manager's busy holiday schedule.

Do volunteer work. All sorts of philanthropic organizations ramp up activities during the holidays--and volunteering can be a great way to network, gain skills, and fill the gap that unemployment might otherwise leave on your resume.

Look into temporary positions. Many companies have end-of-year crunches--at the same time that many workers want to take time off--so they look to staffing agencies to fill gaps. A temporary job can be a great foot in the door at a new company.

Seek out seasonal jobs. Bishop says, "The most obvious opportunities are in retail sales or retail-related positions. There are a variety of part-time and temporary jobs that range from sales and customer service to merchandising, stocking, greeting, gift-wrapping, and playing a role in special in-store events.

Use holiday social events to network. You don't want to make every conversation about your job search--but letting people know how they can help you is crucial. Cohen advises, "Have your pitch--who you are, what you want, and why--ready and perfect."

And try to keep things positive. For instance, when you tell people that you're looking for work, also tell them how you've been productive with your time off. Reach out to your contacts. The holidays are a great reason to reach out to friends and acquaintances, as well as to reconnect with people you may have fallen out of contact with. Cohen suggests, "Send out a holiday greeting, but add a little extra in your message. Email or snail-mail the card to everyone in your job-search universe. It should be upbeat--that you continue and are committed to search for a great job and know that it is only a matter of time and timing. ... And that you're deeply grateful for all the people who have reached out along the way during your search."

And remember that the holidays are a time for giving. Find ways to help the people in your network, and they'll be likelier to help you in the future. Recommit to your job search. Start 2011 off right: make an appointment with yourself to determine your goals for the coming year; then schedule some time to revamp your resume, practice your interviewing skills, and polish up your personal brand.

Resume Cover Letter Help – It’s Been 6 Months and Still No Job Offers

This one is for those of you struggling to land that next job...and there are many of you out there unfortunately. Tough times require more diligent detail to your resume, cover letter and follow ups...and often none of that helps due to the sheer anount of competition out there for very few open jobs. Seemingly, there is no better time to tweak your resume or cover letter or your overall approach to your job search to breathe some new life and energy into your efforts. This article courtesy of a link posted of one of my facebook comntacts, was written by Casey Alexander off the boomersnextstep.com website. Enjoy!

Getting hired in a tight job market isn’t easy. The best way I found to get over the tight job market was by getting some resume cover letter help. I needed it. For some reason I had been sending it out for 6 months with nothing more than just call backs and a few interviews. I knew my cover letter wasn’t stellar but I didn’t think it was that bad. After I made some very serious changes to it, I started to see a change in the results I was getting.

I figured out that the resume cover letter help I needed was for the generic letter I was using. It was too simple and didn’t read very well. It just said, thank you for the opportunity and gave a little about my experience, almost the same information that’s on my resume. To change this I had to completely forget about the cover letters I had copied from the internet. I don’t know how many people use them but I wasn’t getting much out of them. I decided to use a cover letter generator that was recommended widely on the internet. I was afraid of getting the same results but with the money back guarantee I figured I had little to lose.

Making changes to the cover letter worked. I think the structure was better than what I had been using and the language on it was far from how I usually write. It was much more professional. I noticed I got more call backs. I don’t know if it was the letter of the fact that it was easier for me to send twice the number of letters but I did get call backs.

It wasn’t the end of my dry spell by any means. To further improve my resume cover letter, help was available through a good friend of mine who shared her tactic to stand out. She told me that taking it, in person and addressing it to the person interviewing helped her a lot. I didn’t realize how well that impacted the reader. It gave them the impression that I was serious about being hired by taking the time to go and meet the person in charge or hiring.

Another thing that worked really well was to tell them on my cover letter how I want to work for a solid company like theirs that offered the opportunity to learn and grow. I often checked the company website, if it was available and checked for any signs of the company being recognized for anything. If they were a little league sponsor I would find a way to relate to that. If it was for excellence in anything I wanted to know and make a reference to it on my letter. I wanted to send the massage that I was informed about the company and had done some homework on the place I wanted to work for. I did this to have my resume cover letter shine, it did help.

In my experience, a good cover letter has made a difference between landing the interview and not. That’s the first step, right? I catch the reader with the knowledge I have of their organization and a few other key tips I learned to incorporate into my letter. I’ve helped my sister and brothers with their letter and they’ve also landed the jobs. What I picked up made the difference on how I write my resume cover letters. Get all the tips today at Resume Cover Reviews, it can help you land a better job. (c) Copyright 2010 – Casey Alexander. All Rights Reserved